Utensil lifter



Aug. 19, 1952 B. AMES 2,607,619

UTENSIL LIFTER v Filed April 19, 1949 14 mem@ Patented Aug. 19, 1952 w :.more :espeoial1y to ,a .l devicemonlliftingf .holdf .g and,transferring, highlysheated.receptaelesueh Tas eyrexoisnes: stealsplatters andthelilsefltem 5 Qther .handle1ess receptaolesor, Cookin fanmoven. on.grilh whenhegcontent is suitably cookedtoa place.ofpoolingpi-i. 1

obiects of .the vinvcmion, are. to provide liti- Ain'gldevne whioh 'may b e readlnapeledie eir- Jcularl.cooking.. reeeptacles..:of the kindA having 10 tstove orA othenplacehyonbrushirig against 'itf diametrcallygarranged li ing` lips, which need ;not be gripped g orA h eld tightly toA support the receptaclehwhich will hold thegeceptaclejeeuren-without slipping even `theugh-it1is .earestruction. and1whiehwi11. not transmiten undue ,amountloflieat from the receptacle to the handle portionthereof; "1 5U N f Asiiuustnatedherein-thedevieeineludeee 99p,

pecicauysshown as. a. substantially. circuleren- 2o @lifting flle nulus of .resilient wire' and anppen handleassopiet-ed therewithrgthe,loopgonenniilus.having a een; 'or split therein. permitting expansion. and carri/methane or.,supportineeyies forengeeethe `recepltacle.so as ito ,p a'ss downjoveigthlateral" '.edges. Qmhe 11p. it is; mheaiipledand 'itoghe engagedw'ithlthe.undensidet ereoibyon- ;.iraction. of,tne loop` The ivireis bent et zeech .1 sident thgefeap,thehendedenine li, e r DSC- tive sides, of, the gap,and extends outils/faroll-.ti,freinV the respective bends to form substantially straight Candy'parallel, spaced handle elements whose outer end portions are bent into alignment and with theirf-tips abutting-,ztheifeby holding them i parallel handle elements spaced apart, to provide 5 Man'open handle. A sleeve fastened tofone ofthe inturned ends affords a socket forreceptiony of the other inturned end to. hold the-ends. aligned,

The-invention will now.,be described greaten.

- idetail--With:reference to the acompanying drawings in which: e L,

f eFig; Lis'fa; plan view of theholder showlngtit in contracted position inljullglines and in an expandedlposition in dotted lines-h ;l?ig.2;=is a side elevationfgothe dei/,10Q to a receptacle of the kind which it is adapted to support; @M

Eigg is a plan view/wila receptacle for which thedevice inespeniallxnade r 'and ButlerAmcs, Boston, fiile, 194e, 'i'ial'o. 8%',322

2 olaini's. (Cheek-7g3) o er .theheldee andY 0f.. a'deviee which Willi ppiicdsc the breadth ofthe gap'zs'and loc .Ifptalc with.ti/h ih the bails of the device engagewhen supporting-it.

pec'ally v, desirable becausesuch, receptacles ,unless momie en Oven and .because 'the-' O f; akhandlefeliminates in large degree the( Q f.- inadvertently knocking.thereceptacleiro1 horizontal rim IG and dialneti'ially'pposed`=lift snffaresilient vire'. .eed 'handle' D lateral ve parallel. The terminal ends ofthe y e Fig. 4 is a vertical section to larger sca e on the 60 for the reception of the othen-invvardl'heit''id 30, thus releasably holding the inturned ends in alignment and substantially at the spacing of the gap 26. There is fastened to the loop 22 at the under side of the plane thereof a pair of downwardly diverging bails or sub-loops 34 and 3'6 of shallow U-shape arranged diametrically opposite each other and with the bail 35 situated adjacent to the handle and spanning the gap, the horizontal bottom members of the respective bails being designed to underlie and support the respective ears of the utensil. The bail 34 consists of spaced, downwardly projecting rigid legs 38 having integral with their lower ends and extending therebetween the horizontal run or bottom member 401 paralleling the plane of the loop. The bail 36 has corresponding downwardly projecting rigid legs 42 Vwhose ends are rigidly joined to the annulus adjacent to the junctions of the respective handle elements 24 and 28 with the annulus, the lower ends of the legs being united to a horizontal run 44 paralleling the plane of the loop; this run, however, being divided substantially midway between the legs so that the bail 36 consists of two parts, one part being fastened to the loop at each side of the gap 2,6. The distance between the horizontal portions 40 and 44 of the bails is substantially less than the over-all distance between the opposite side edges of the lips I8 of the receptacle towhich it is to be applied. Accordingly, in the application of the device to the receptacle, the bail 34 is first applied to underlie one lip I8 and then the handle is spread to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1v to separate the horizontal parts 44 of the bail 36 sufiiciently to straddle the other lip I8 and to permit passage of these ends down over the lateral edges of the lip and downwardly beneath the lip, whereupon they may be allowed to come together beneath the lip by releasing the handle parts and allowing the natural resilience of the loop 22 to draw them together.

It is apparent that by the aforesaid construction no gripping action is required on the parallel parts 28-28 of the handle to hold the bails 34 and 36 in engagement with the lips I8; that endwise movement of the receptacle in the holder cannot disengage the bails from either lip so as to release the receptacle, that if gripping action is applied to the handle parts as, for example, by one who is overcautious, ner-vous or excited and seeks to grip the receptacle when it is not necessary, such gripping action will have no camming action on the receptacle of a kind to throw the receptacle out of the bails. Consequently the device will lend itself to safe transfer of heavy and hot articles from a stove or other heating device. Moreover since the plane of the loop 22 is situated above and out of contact with the rim or lip of the receptacle, there is no direct transfer of heat Y therefrom to the loop and hence to the handle portion. While there will be some heat .conducted through the bails 34 and 36 to the main loop 22, this heat will be largely dissiplated by reason of the thinness of the loop so that by the time it reaches the handle portion it will not besuiiicient to make the latter uncomfortable.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalentsA which fall lwithin the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A device for lifting a cooking utensil of the kind which has diametrically opposite lifting ears projecting from a marginal rim, said device comprising a length of stiff resilient wire shaped to provide an annular loop having a gap at one point in its circumference, the wire being bent at each side of the gap to provide outwardly extend- 4ing, substantially straighthandle elements whose extremities` are bent into alignment, means normally holding said extremities in alignment but permitting relative movement toward and from each other, the resilience of the wire being such as normally to maintain the annular loop at its minimum diameter with said extremities of the handle elements abutting, the annular loop and handle elements being in the same plane, a pair of ear-supporting bails, each of shallow U-shape. carried by the annular loop and extending downwardly from the latter, one of said bails bridging thegap in the annular loop and the other of said bails being located at a point diametrically opposite the gap, the rst of said bails comprising parts which are separable by separation of the handle elements thereby to admit passage of the widthwise dimension of the lifting ear of the utensil between said separated parts o f the bail in applying the lifting device to the utensil.

2. A device for holding a cooking utensil of the kind which has diametrically opposite, substantially horizontal lifting lips projecting from a rim, said device comprising a resilient Wire annulus having a gap at one side and which has` an inherent tendency to contract so as to diminish the width of the gap, the wire forming the annulus having bends dening the respective sides of the gap and extending outwardly from the respective bends to form substantially straight, parallel spaced handle elements, the end portions of the handle elements being directed toward each other and being in alignment, a sleeve fixed to one of said end portions and in which the 'opposite end portion loosely fits, the annulus and handle elements lying in substantially the same plane, a bail of shallow U-shape located at the diametrically opposite side of the annulus from the gap and having the upper-ends of its legs rigidly joined to the annulus at opposite sides respectively of a diameter of the latter which bisects the gap, and a similar bail having the upper ends of its legs rigidly joined to the annulus approximately at the junctions of the respective handle elements with the annulus, the bottom member of the latter bail being substantially parallel to the plane of the annular loop and having a gap disposed symmetrically with respect to the aforesaid diameter of the annulus whereby the opposite side portions of said latter bail may be separated to admit the ear of the utensil to be introduced between the legs of the bail.

BUTLER AMES.

- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record inthe le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 71,336 Smith Nov. 26, 1867 656,547 Hudson Aug. 21, 1900 986,854 Peck Mar. 14, 1911 1,032,921 Mathias July 16, 1912 1,341,371 Kilian May 25, 1920 2,070,367 Mackilbank Feb. 9, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 413,114 Great Britain July 12, 1934 

